


Cologne

by doctorsorders_deathboy



Series: Solangelo Hogwarts AU [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Amortentia, Hogwarts AU, M/M, gryffindor!jason, gryffindor!nico, hufflepuff!will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:56:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6450862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorsorders_deathboy/pseuds/doctorsorders_deathboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the prompt: Nico gets to potions class late without realizing that today's the day the class is making Amortentia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is super short and super cliche but I really needed to write something to help break my writer's block. Thank you to mewdle on tumblr for sending me the prompt!
> 
> Disclaimer: Nico's a Gryffindor in this fic, which I'm not 100% sure about, but I mainly did it just so that I could work in some platonic Jasico. I was originally planning to explain how Nico was the first Gryffindor in his family and his insecurities about it and stuff, but I couldn't find a comfortable way to work it in. I rewrote this four times so hopefully it turned out okay. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Nico’s feet hit the stone floor hard and fast as he rushed down the empty hall, frowning at how loudly his footsteps echoed. Out of all the classes he could have been late to, potions wouldn’t have been his first choice.

He paused outside the door to catch his breath, before carefully pushing open the door. Any hopes he’d had of silently sneaking into class were crushed as the heavy wooden door creaked loudly. He grimaced as everyone in the class swiveled back to look at him. Most of the kids looked bored with him and turned right back to their work as Nico rushed over to Jason, his desk partner. 

“Well you lucked out,” Jason commented to him. “Professor Asclepius had to step out to yell at some first years that were shooting some sort of toy down the hall.”

Nico let out a breath of relief. “Do you think he’ll notice that I was gone?”

Jason shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

Nico grumbled to himself, pulling his books out of his bag. He had been dreading this class all week. Not only was it potions, his worst subject, but it was with Hufflepuff. And more importantly, Will Solace.

Nico peeked out from behind his mop of hair to glance at Will, only to find Will staring back at him. Nico scowled, embarrassed at having been caught. “What’re you looking at?”

The corners of Will’s mouth quirked up. “Nothing. I just like seeing you show emotion other than your constant distaste with the world. Embarrassment and nerves look quite good on you.”

Nico’s face flushed further at the almost-compliment from Will. “Oh, shut up. At least I don’t bathe myself in cologne every morning in a desperate attempt to get girls.”

Will snorted. “I didn’t realize you had a problem with my cologne, di Angelo.”

“I do when the whole goddamn room reeks of it. For Merlin’s sake, did you spill a bottle of it in here or something?” Nico’s senses were being overwhelmed with the scent of  _ Will _ and it was driving him insane.

Jason choked behind Nico as Will opened his mouth to retort before freezing as his cheeks colored. 

“What?” Nico asked, confused as to why he was getting such strange responses from his friends.

“Nico,” Jason said in an almost consoling tone as he pushed his textbook in Nico’s direction, showing him the page for the potion the class was currently working on. 

Nico frowned, glancing down to see what the big deal was.

_ Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world. _

“So what?” Nico asked, feeling his stomach sink.

Jason pointed to a passage lower down the page.

_ It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive. _

Oh. 

Oh  _ no. _

Nico forced a laugh. “Oh that’s rich. Wow. But I’m afraid that won’t excuse your excessive cologne usage, Solace.” It was a ruse, and a terrible one at that. Nico knew already, the damage had been done.

“Ah, di Angelo. You decided to join us after all,” came the Potions teacher from behind him.

Nico felt as if the oxygen in the room was running out. He was surrounded by his best friend who was laughing at him, his crush who was as red as a tomato and still had his mouth hanging wide open, an angry teacher who he was very much in trouble with, and the smell of  _ WillWillWillWillWill _ .

Nico bolted right out of the room, leaving his bag next to Jason who was also having trouble breathing due to how hard he was laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? I have so many mixed feelings about this fic, so I'd appreciate some feedback. Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> My tumblr is doctorsorders-deathboy
> 
> ~*Comments and Kudos make me smile*~
> 
> -Aspen


	2. Will's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will's side of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, guys. I've decided to keep writing in this AU because turns out, I love it a lot.

Will had a strong love/hate relationship with potions class. On the one hand, potion making was probably his strongest magical talent. On the other hand, as with many things, as soon as you make a fun thing into a course at school, it loses a lot of what makes it appealing. And then there was the matter of Nico di Angelo.

Will also had a strong love/hate relationship with Nico.

Well, a one sided relationship, that is. He hadn’t the slightest idea what was going on in Nico’s mind, but his own was filled with many conflicting thoughts. Nico was annoying. Nico was funny. Nico constantly looked unhappy with the world. Nico had the most beautiful smile. Nico had a terrible temper. Nico was such a wonderful person.

They were all true. And they all left Will confused and heartbroken.

Will was often frustrated with Nico, just wanting a clear idea of what they were to each other. They weren’t  _ friends _ exactly. There was too much tension between them to get that label. But they weren’t  _ enemies _ either, or even rivals. They were just… classmates. Classmates who happened to constantly bicker with each other whenever they got the chance to without any of their words ever actually feeling mean.

Lou Ellen and Cecil, muggle friends that Will corresponded with, insisted that this strange series of interactions Will described to them was called  _ flirting _ . Will adamantly insisted that it was  _ not _ .

But all of this came to a head during potions class. As soon as the professor announced that they were making a love potion that day, Will gulped as the rest of the class broke out into excited chatter and teasing. He half expected someone to tease  _ him _ , accusing him of liking Nico just like Lou Ellen and Cecil did. Luckily, no one did, so Will allowed himself a glance a Nico’s usual seat, which was diagonal from his, only to see that Nico had not magically appeared since the beginning of class. Will frowned, wondering if he’d gotten himself hurt somehow. It wouldn’t be surprising.

“Alright, alright,” Asclepius called out in an attempt to calm the class. “You have until the end of class to successfully create the potion. This is an independent assignment. You may help each other, but you will each have to turn in your own cauldron.”

The class groaned a bit, but set to work quickly. Will let himself get lost in making the potion, smiling slightly to himself as he worked. Potion brewing was therapeutic to him in a way. He almost forgot what he was really making.

By the time most of the students were almost done with their potions, Will could already distinctly smell various aromas in the air that he recognized. His mom’s homemade brownies she’d always made when Will was a kid. The sterile smell of his father’s doctor office. Nico di Angelo.

_ Damn it. _ Will closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. Any bits of denial he’d had left regarding his feelings for Nico were shredded, because the Amortentia definitely had that faint earthy scent that Will had grown to love.  _ Merlin, how am I going to make it through the period without losing my mind? _

Will was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of loud whooping and crashing out in the halls. The entire class turned their heads towards the commotion as Asclepius marched to the door. Upon opening it, a group of first years zoomed past, laughing loudly, undeterred by the potions teacher’s shouts. Asclepius paused in the doorway, leaning back into the classroom and instructing the class to continue working before rushing out and after the students playing in the hall.

Will turned back to his potion, which was nearly complete at that point. The class’s chatter became significantly louder without a teacher there to keep them in check. Will smiled as his potion came closer and closer to the sheen it was supposed to be.

Yet another noise interrupted class, once again prompting the students to turn and find the source. Will’s eyes widened when he saw the exact boy that his potion smelled like and quickly turned his head back to what he’d been doing. He was no longer focusing on the Amortentia, though. He was instead trying very hard not to be aware of Nico’s presence in the room and failing tremendously. 

He quickly gave up and let himself watch Nico talk with Jason and then lean down to get things out of his bag. When Nico’s gaze drifted up and met Will’s, Will’s heart beat quicker at the embarrassment at having been caught staring. But he continued to anyways, knowing better than to try and stand down.

“What’re you looking at?” Nico accused, narrowing his eyes.

Will let himself slip into the nonchalant persona he normally used when talking to Nico. So far, it had always done a perfect job of hiding his nerves and he trusted that this time it would do the same thing. “Nothing. I just like seeing you show emotion other than your constant distaste with the world. Embarrassment and nerves look quite good on you.”  _ Damnitdamnitdamnit you just said he looks good, Will, damn it. Did you just flirt??  _ Will blamed the fact that the smell of Nico’s hair was overwhelming his senses.

But then Nico  _ blushed _ , and Will’s mind was spinning at what that meant so much that he almost missed Nico’s retort.

“Oh, shut up. At least I don’t bathe myself in cologne every morning in a desperate attempt to get girls.”

Now  _ that  _ hit a little closer to home. Whereas Nico was openly gay and had been for a long time, Will wasn’t out yet. He had no interest in girls. He  _ did _ however have a large interest in Nico. And he may or may not have been spending more time trying to wrangle his mop of curls and putting on a dab of cologne in the mornings in the secret hope that it might catch a certain wizard’s attention. Apparently it had, but not in a good way. 

But instead of frowning and letting his shoulders sag a bit, he just snorted and replied, “I didn’t realize you had a problem with my cologne, di Angelo.”

“I do when the whole goddamn room reeks of it. For Merlin’s sake, did you spill a bottle of it in here or something?”

Will was already preparing his next response, his mouth open to shoot back when he froze.

_ Wait. _

Will glanced at the cauldron on his desk and inhaled once more, remembering what the room smelled like to him. That meant--

Oh. 

Oh  _ no. _

Will was vaguely aware of the fact that his face was very red and that Jason was looking at Nico apologetically and that Nico was making an attempt at a comeback, but it was very hard to focus on any of that when his mind was filled with the same sentence repeating over and over again.

_ There is no way this is happening to me right now. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Cologne! HOWEVER, this little two-shot is a sort of prequel for a full length chaptered fic by the title, "What Was Yet to Come" that continues this story. I decided to make a whole new fic is for a few reasons, mainly I just felt like this fluffy two-shot wasn't a proper start to the story. The first chapter of What Was Yet to Come is up now so go check it out :)
> 
> Say hi to me on tumblr! (@doctorsorders-deathboy)
> 
> ~*Comments and Kudos make me smile*~
> 
> -Aspen


End file.
